Nehemiah s



N. PETERS, PHOTO LITH UNITED. sTATEs PATENT orrrcE.

NEHEMIAH S. BEAN, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMOSKEAG MANUFACTURING CO., OF SAME PLACE.

STEAM FIRE-ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 31,138, dated January 15, 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NEHEMIAH S. BEAN, of Manchester, in Hillsboro county, in the State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam Fire-Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form art of this specification, is a description of myinvention so full and exact as to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention relates to, and is an improvement upon, that description of steam lire engines which have a vertical boiler with a tube (not necessarily cylindrical) attached to and extending therefrom at, or nearly at, a right angle with the boiler, which'tube in some cases serves the purpose of a tank for the feed water to the boiler,

and as a bed plate vfor the mechanism or av part of it, and Viewing the engine as a carriage or wagon the tube serves the purpose of a perch pole or forward part of a wagon body to which the forward wheels are connected, generally so that they can turn completely under the tube.

My invention consists in the bifurcation of such a tube, and the employment of its capacity, not only for tank purposes, but also for the vacuum and air chambers of the pump. The bifurcation of the tube en ables me to obtaina peculiarly advantageous, well balanced, economical, and convenient, arrangement of a vertical steam cylinder and pump of a lire engine, while it has the functions of the perch pole and bed plate as did the straight tube, while by the employment and division of the capacity of this tube for air and Vacuum chambers nearly all of the cost and weight of ordinary air and vacuum chambers are saved.

In the drawings similar letters refer to similar parts in the different figures, of whichy Figure 1, is a plan with the inner, upper, fourth part of the tube removed so as to show in section what I deem the best method of constructing it: Fig. 2, a side view, and Fig. 3, an end view of so much of a steam fire engine as embodies my invention or is necessary in describing the same.

l brazing or by both combined.

A denotes the boiler to which the tube B is secured, and C such a double acting suction and force pump as was patented to me 1n the United States on the 12th day of June 1860. Within the tube the heads,

this arrangement it will be evident that the' vacuum and air chambers of the pump can be upon opposite sides of the fire engine in harmony, and in direct communication, with the suction and delivery passages of the pump from which the hose can lead in a direct line from and to the engine, and that the steam cylinder, whose piston rod is a continuation of that of the pump, can be placed directly over the pump, and may be secured wholly, or in part, to the tube or boiler or to both, the two parts of the tube serving most conveniently for the support of the fly wheel shaft bearings, while the crank and other parts in immediate connection therewith play in the opening between the parts of the tube.

l/Vhile the detail of the manner of the construction of the tube may be left to the ordinary skill and judgment of those skilled in the construction of steam fire engines and other mechanism of a like character, and to be modied by the circumstances'of each case, I will describe the detail which I practice.

The straight parts'of the tube are made of wrought metal (I prefer drawn seamless brass tubes) with open ends which afford facility for insertion of the heads a I) o CZ which are fastened and secured within the tube, wherever desired, by riveting or by The return bend I form of wrought metal, and the pieces which bolt directly to the boiler are most conveniently made of castings. The

different parts forming the Whole of the biment of the tubular metallic perch-pole furcated tube are united with rings around or forebody Whether the same is divided the joints and by riveting or brazing or into compartments or not. both. N. S. BEAN. 5 Having described by invention, I clam- Witnesses:

As an improvement in the construction of J. D. WATSON,

steam re engines, the bifurcated arrange- A. A. BALCH. 

